Notable Alumni of Washington & Jefferson College [Sorted List]

1. Alfred L. Pearson

1838-1903 (aged 65)

lawyer military officer

Alfred Lawrence Pearson was a lawyer and Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was awarded the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Lewis's Farm.

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2. Albert C. Thompson

1842-1910 (aged 68)

lawyer judge politician

Albert Clifton Thompson was an American lawyer and Civil War veteran who served as a United States representative from Ohio and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

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3. Rush Clark

1834-1879 (aged 45)

lawyer politician

Rush Clark was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from Iowa, who died on the floor of Congress in 1879.

4. Ralph Vince

1900-1996 (aged 96)

American football player lawyer judge

Raffaello D. "Ralph" Vince was an American football player for the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Bulldogs, and the Cleveland Panthers. He later coached at Baldwin–Wallace College and John Carroll University. Outspoken and inventive as a coach, he was the inventor of the face mask. The original he created is on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio....

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5. Sherrard Clemens

1820-1880 (aged 60)

lawyer politician

Sherrard Clemens was a politician and lawyer from Virginia and Missouri. He was a cousin to author Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain). The unincorporated community of Sherrard in Marshall County, West Virginia is named after him.

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6. Christopher Wolcott

1820-1863 (aged 43)

lawyer politician

Christopher Parsons Wolcott was a Republican politician from the state of Ohio. He was Ohio Attorney General 1856–1860 and United States Assistant Secretary of War from 1862 to 1863.

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7. John James McCook

1845-1911 (aged 66)

lawyer

John James McCook, was a patriarch of the Fighting McCooks, one of the most prolific families in United States Army history. Five of his sons became prominent soldiers, chaplains, or sailors, as well as eight of his nephews.

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8. Leonidas Sexton

1827-1880 (aged 53)

lawyer politician

Leonidas Sexton was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. representative from Indiana from 1877 to 1879. He previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Indiana from 1873 to 1877.

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9. Charles Ogle

1798-1841 (aged 43)

lawyer politician

Charles Ogle was an American attorney and politician who served as an Anti-Masonic and Whig member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

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10. James Wallace Robinson

1826-1898 (aged 72)

lawyer politician

James Wallace Robinson was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1873 to 1875.

11. George A. Jenks

1836-1908 (aged 72)

lawyer politician

George Augustus Jenks was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He served in Congress and as Solicitor General of the United States.

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12. Robert Ould

1820-1882 (aged 62)

military personnel lawyer politician

Robert Ould was a lawyer who served as a Confederate official during the American Civil War. From 1862 to 1865 he was the Confederate agent of exchange for prisoners of war under the Dix–Hill Cartel. After the war he became a member of the Virginia General Assembly and was later elected president of a railroad company.

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13. Chris Mosley

American football coach American football player

Chris Mosley is an American football coach who last served as an assistant offensive line coach with the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He has been the team's assistant offensive line coach since 2012.

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14. Hal Tidrick

1915-1974 (aged 59)

basketball player

Howard Benjamin "Hal" Tidrick was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Indianapolis Jets and the Baltimore Bullets of the Basketball Association of America (BAA). He attended college at Washington & Jefferson College.

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15. Charles Page Thomas Moore

1831-1904 (aged 73)

lawyer judge

Charles Page Thomas Moore was a lawyer and justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, who before the American Civil War had helped found the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in 1852 at Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson College) in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

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16. Henry Christopher McCook

1837-1911 (aged 74)

writer biologist zoologist entomologist arachnologist

Henry Christopher McCook was an American Presbyterian clergyman, naturalist, and prolific author on religion, history, and nature. He was a member of the celebrated Fighting McCooks, a family of Ohio military officers and volunteers during the American Civil War.

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17. James Cooper

1810-1863 (aged 53)

military officer lawyer politician

James Cooper was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician, who served in the United States Congress.

18. John V. Le Moyne

1828-1918 (aged 90)

lawyer politician

John Valcoulon Le Moyne was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.

19. Carl G. Bachmann

1890-1980 (aged 90)

lawyer politician

Carl G. Bachmann was an American lawyer and politician who served four terms as a United States Congressman from Wheeling, West Virginia from 1925 to 1933.

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20. William B. Mitchell

1832-1900 (aged 68)

lawyer judge politician

William Mitchell was a lawyer and judge notable for his work in Minnesota as a member of the 3rd Minnesota District Court and Minnesota Supreme Court. He was also the first dean of the St. Paul College of Law, later renamed in his honor as the William Mitchell College of Law.

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21. Jonathan Kearsley

1786-1859 (aged 73)

politician

Jonathan Kearsley was an American military officer and politician. He fought in the War of 1812 and was a two-time mayor of Detroit.

22. Andrew Wylie

1789-1851 (aged 62)

academic administrator university teacher writer Christian minister pastor

Andrew Wylie was an American academic and theologian, who was president of Jefferson College (1811–1816) and Washington College (1816–1828) before becoming the first president of Indiana University (1829–1851).

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23. Charles Fremont West

1899-1979 (aged 80)

athletics competitor American football player

Charles Fremont "Pruner" West was an American track athlete, college football player and coach, and physician. He played football and ran track at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was the first African American to play quarterback in a Rose Bowl. West served as the head football coach at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1928 and again...

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24. William L. Alden

1837-1908 (aged 71)

lawyer journalist humorist writer author

William Livingston Alden was an American journalist, fiction writer, humorist and canoe enthusiast. He was a US diplomat in Rome from 1885 to 1890 and thereafter lived in Europe until shortly before his death.

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25. Henry Adams Thompson

1837-1920 (aged 83)

meteorological observer politician

Henry Adams Thompson was an American prohibitionist and professor who was the vice-presidential nominee of the Prohibition Party in 1880.

26. Kenneth Melani

1954-. (aged 72)

business executive

Kenneth R. Melani is the former president and chief executive officer of Highmark, a health insurance company based in Pittsburgh and the largest health insurer in Pennsylvania. Before his abrupt departure from Highmark in 2012, he was one of the most powerful health insurance executives in the country. At his peak in 2012, Melani was in charge of a Highmark...

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27. Robert I. Miller

1963-. (aged 63)

military leader pediatrician

Robert Irving Miller is a medical surgeon and retired United States Air Force lieutenant general who last served as the 24th Surgeon General of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force.

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28. Daniel Sturgeon

1789-1878 (aged 89)

politician

Daniel Sturgeon was an American physician, banker and Democratic party politician from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He served in both houses of the state legislature and represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate.

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29. Thomas W. Bartley

1812-1885 (aged 73)

lawyer judge politician

Thomas Welles Bartley was an American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Ohio. He served as the 17th governor of Ohio. Bartley was succeeded in office by his father, Mordecai Bartley, one of only a few instances of this occurring in high elected office in the United States.

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30. Scott Petri

1960-. (aged 66)

politician

Scott Petri is an American politician who was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 178th Legislative District. He was the Chairman of House Urban Affairs and the House Ethics Committee. He also served as a member of the Liquor Control Committees. Petri served as executive director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority from 2017 until he was...

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31. Jacob B. Sweitzer

1821-1888 (aged 67)

lawyer military officer

Jacob Bowman Sweitzer was a Pennsylvania lawyer and soldier who commanded a regiment and then a brigade in the Army of the Potomac in the American Civil War. He and his men were significantly engaged at the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, where they reinforced and helped temporarily stabilize the Union defensive line on the second day of fighting.

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32. William Thomas Hamilton

1820-1888 (aged 68)

lawyer politician

William Thomas Hamilton, a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 38th Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1880 to 1884. He also served in the United States Senate, representing the State of Maryland, from 1868 to 1874, and in the House of Representatives, representing the second district (1849–1853) and fourth district (1853–1855) of Maryland.

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33. Henry Capehart

1825-1895 (aged 70)

military officer

Henry Capehart was a surgeon and officer in the U.S. Cavalry during the American Civil War. He began his military career as the original surgeon for the 1st West Virginia Cavalry Regiment, known then as the 1st Loyal Virginia Cavalry. The regiment consisted mostly of soldiers from Ohio. Most of its fighting occurred in Virginia and what is now West...

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34. Richard Coulter

1827-1908 (aged 81)

military officer diarist

Richard Coulter Sr. was an American Civil War Colonel and brevet brigadier general of volunteers in the Union Army, a businessman, and banker. During the Civil War, he was colonel of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry, often rising to brigade command upon the wounding of superior officers. In 1866, he was nominated and confirmed as a brevet major general of volunteers...

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35. Hunter Corbett

1835-1920 (aged 85)

missionary

Hunter Corbett D.D. was a pioneer American missionary to Chefoo (Zhifu 芝罘区, in Yantai), Shandong China, he served with the American Presbyterian Mission. He was a fervent advocate of the missionary enterprise.

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36. John D. Fredericks

1869-1945 (aged 76)

lawyer politician

John Donnan Fredericks was an American lawyer and politician from Los Angeles, California, who served two terms as a U.S. representative from 1923 to 1927. As District Attorney of Los Angeles County (1903-1915) he successfully prosecuted the McNamara brothers for their 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times building.

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37. John J. Patterson

1830-1912 (aged 82)

journalist businessperson editor politician

John James "Honest John" Patterson was a businessman and United States Senator from South Carolina. He was a Republican.

38. William Henry Letterman

1832-1881 (aged 49)

physician

William Henry Letterman was the co-founder of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in 1852 at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

39. Lorrin Andrews

1795-1868 (aged 73)

judge Bible translator translator lexicographer missionary

Lorrin Andrews was an early American missionary to Hawaii and a judge. He opened the first post-secondary school for Hawaiians called Lahainaluna Seminary, prepared a Hawaiian dictionary and several works on the literature and antiquities of the Hawaiians. His students published the first newspaper, and were involved in the first case of counterfeiting currency in Hawaii. He later served as...

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40. John Hemphill

1803-1862 (aged 59)

lawyer judge politician

John Hemphill was an American politician and jurist who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas from 1841 to 1846 and of the Supreme Court of Texas until 1858, and a United States senator from Texas from 1859 to 1861. A member of the Democratic Party, he was one of the signatories of the...

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41. Richard C. Drum

1825-1909 (aged 84)

military personnel

Richard Coulter Drum was an American military officer who was Adjutant General of the United States Army from 1880 to 1889. In addition to serving in the Mexican–American War early in his career, Drum's experience included the American Indian Wars, support for the Union during the American Civil War, and the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Beginning as a private...

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42. Daniel Van Voorhis

1878-1956 (aged 78)

military personnel

Daniel Van Voorhis was a United States Army lieutenant general and was noteworthy for his assignments as commander of V Corps and the Caribbean Defense Command, as well as his efforts in creating the Army's modern armor branch.

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43. Johnson C. Smith

1844-1919 (aged 75)

businessperson

Johnson Crayne Smith was an early 20th-century businessman from Pittsburgh and the namesake of Johnson C. Smith University.

44. Daniel McCook

1798-1863 (aged 65)

lawyer

Daniel McCook was an attorney and an officer in the Union army during the American Civil War. He was one of two Ohio brothers who, along with 13 of their sons, became widely known as the “Fighting McCooks” for their contributions to the war effort.

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45. James Millikin

1827-1909 (aged 82)

James Millikin was the founder of Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, United States.

46. John Brallier

1876-1960 (aged 84)

American football player

John Kinport "Sal" Brallier was one of the first professional American football players. He was nationally acknowledged as the first openly paid professional football player when he was given $10 to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association for a game against the Jeanette Athletic Association in 1895.

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47. William Alfred Passavant

1821-1894 (aged 73)

editor

William Alfred Passavant was a Lutheran minister who brought the Lutheran Deaconess movement to the United States. He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on November 24 with Justus Falckner and Jehu Jones.

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48. John Livingston Lowes

1867-1945 (aged 78)

scholar of English literary critic writer

John Livingston Lowes was an American scholar and critic of English literature, specializing in Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Geoffrey Chaucer.

49. John S. Horner

1802-1883 (aged 81)

lawyer judge

John Scott Horner was a U.S. politician, Secretary and acting Governor of Michigan Territory, 1835–1836 and Secretary of Wisconsin Territory, 1836–1837.

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50. James S. Rollins

1812-1888 (aged 76)

lawyer politician

James Sidney Rollins was a 19th century Missouri politician and lawyer. He helped establish the University of Missouri at Columbia, and led the successful effort to get it located in Boone County, and gained funding for the proposed state university with the passage of a series of legislative acts in the General Assembly of Missouri (state legislature) at the Missouri...

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51. David Hayes Agnew

1818-1892 (aged 74)

university teacher military physician surgeon

David Hayes Agnew was an American surgeon, anatomist, and educator. During the American Civil War he worked as a surgeon at Satterlee General Hospital, Hestonville Military Hospital, and as consulting surgeon to a staff of 47 resident physicians at Mower General Hospital in Philadelphia. He purchased and taught at the Philadelphia School of Anatomy and founded the Philadelphia School of...

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52. Richard Clark

1946-. (aged 80)

businessperson

Richard T. Clark is a former chairman of the Merck & Co. pharmaceutical company, a position he held from 2007 to 2011. His previous leadership positions at Merck & Co. include CEO (2005–2010), president (2005–2009) and president of the Merck & Co. manufacturing division (2003–2005).

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53. Kevin A. Ohlson

1960-. (aged 66)

military officer lawyer judge

Kevin Alan Ohlson is an American lawyer who serves as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

54. Edgar William Garbisch

1899-1979 (aged 80)

art collector business executive military engineer American football player

Edgar William Garbisch was an American college football player, military officer, businessman and art collector. He played eight years of college football at Washington & Jefferson College (1917–1920) and the United States Military Academy (1921–1924) and was an All-American each year from 1922 to 1924. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.

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55. George Junkin

1790-1868 (aged 78)

educator clergyman

The Reverend George Junkin was an American educator and Presbyterian minister who served as the first and third president of Lafayette College and later as president of Miami University and Washington College (now Washington and Lee University).

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56. Stephan Loewentheil

1950-. (aged 76)

historian jurist

Stephan Loewentheil is an American antiquarian and a rare book and photograph collector. He is the founder and president of the 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop, located in New York, New York and Baltimore, Maryland. Over a career spanning four decades, Loewentheil "has excelled … in unearthing obscure bibliographic details leading to the acquisition of under-appreciated rarities, seminal...

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57. Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan

1794-1852 (aged 58)

lawyer politician

Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan was a 19th-century politician and lawyer who served briefly as United States Secretary of the Interior under President Millard Fillmore.

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58. James S. Jackson

1823-1862 (aged 39)

military officer lawyer politician

James Streshly Jackson was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky and a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

59. Jim Christiana

1983-. (aged 43)

politician

James J. Christiana III is an American politician. He served as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019.

60. Francis Julius LeMoyne

1798-1879 (aged 81)

physician

Francis Julius LeMoyne was a 19th-century American medical doctor and philanthropist from Washington, Pennsylvania. Responsible for creating the first crematory in the United States, he was also an abolitionist, founder of Washington's first public library (known as Citizen's Library), co-founder of the Washington Female Seminary, and an instrumental benefactor to the LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School (now LeMoyne-Owen College), to...

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61. A. Loudon Snowden

1835-1912 (aged 77)

diplomat politician

Archibald Loudon Snowden was an American diplomat. He served simultaneously as the United States Minister to Greece, Romania, and Serbia from 1889 to 1892 and as the United States Minister to Spain from 1892 to 1893. During the American Civil War, he raised a regiment of infantry and served as lieutenant-colonel during their training. He subsequently served as captain in...

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62. George W. Morgan

1820-1893 (aged 73)

lawyer diplomat military officer politician

George Washington Morgan was an American soldier, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He fought in the Texas Revolution and the Mexican–American War, and was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Morgan later served as a three-term reconstruction era United States Congressman from Ohio. He also served as the United States Ambassador to Portugal from 1858 to...

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63. William Hendricks

1782-1850 (aged 68)

lawyer politician

William Hendricks was a Democratic-Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1822, the third governor of Indiana from 1822 to 1825, and an Anti-Jacksonian member of the U.S. Senate from 1825 to 1837. He led much of his family into politics and founded one of the largest political families in Indiana. He was the uncle of Thomas...

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64. Absalom Baird

1824-1905 (aged 81)

military officer

Absalom Baird was a career United States Army officer who distinguished himself as a Union Army general in the American Civil War. Baird received the Medal of Honor for his military actions.

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65. Harvey Weir Cook

1892-1943 (aged 51)

aircraft pilot

Harvey Weir Cook was an American fighter ace in World War I and Distinguished Service Cross recipient. He was also a pioneer in civilian commercial aviation and a leading figure in the development of aviation in the United States and in the state of Indiana. The Indianapolis International Airport terminal building and entrance road are named in his honor.

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66. Isaac Murphy

1799-1882 (aged 83)

lawyer politician

Isaac Murphy was a native of Pennsylvania, a teacher and lawyer who moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas with his wife and child in 1834. He continued to teach and also became active in politics. Murphy is best known as the only delegate to have repeatedly voted against secession at the second Arkansas Secession Convention in 1861.

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67. Henry Stanbery

1803-1881 (aged 78)

lawyer politician

Henry Stanbery was an American lawyer from Ohio. He was Ohio's first attorney general from 1846 to 1851 and the United States Attorney General from 1866 to 1868.

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68. Andy Oyler

1880-1970 (aged 90)

baseball player

Andrew Paul "Pepper" Oyler was an American professional baseball player who played one season in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles in 1902. In 27 games as a third baseman, shortstop, and outfielder for the Orioles, he had 77 at-bats with 17 hits and one home run.

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69. Israel Pickens

1780-1827 (aged 47)

lawyer politician

Israel Pickens was an American politician and lawyer, the third governor of Alabama (1821–1825), member of the North Carolina Senate (1808–1810), and a member of the United States House of Representatives (1811–1817) for North Carolina.

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70. Jon Soltz

military personnel

Jon Soltz served as a United States Army officer in the Iraq War and is chairman and co-founder of the veterans advocacy group VoteVets.org. Soltz served in both the Kosovo campaign in 2000 and later in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Based on his service, Soltz became an outspoken critic of the execution of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Soltz deployed in...

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71. James Patton Anderson

1822-1872 (aged 50)

politician

James Patton Anderson was an American slave owner, physician, lawyer, and politician, most notably serving as a United States Congressman from the Washington Territory, a Mississippi state legislator, and a delegate at the Florida state secession convention to withdraw from the United States. He also served in the American Civil War as a general in the Confederate States Army, serving...

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72. Henry H. Bingham

1841-1912 (aged 71)

politician military officer

Henry Harrison Bingham was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district from 1879 to 1912. He was a Union army officer in the American Civil War, fought in some of the key battles of the war and received the United States Military's highest award for...

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73. Jonathan Letterman

1824-1872 (aged 48)

military physician

Major Jonathan Letterman was an American surgeon credited as being the originator of the modern methods for medical organization in armies or battlefield medical management. In the United States, Letterman is known today as the "Father of Battlefield Medicine". His system of organization enabled thousands of wounded men to be recovered and treated during the American Civil War.

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74. James Addams Beaver

1837-1914 (aged 77)

lawyer judge politician

James Addams Beaver was an American attorney, recruiter and field commander of Pennsylvania Infantry who was wounded four times during the American Civil War, and politician who served as the 20th governor of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1891. He also served as the acting president of the Pennsylvania State University from 1906 to 1908.

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75. Philo McGiffin

1860-1897 (aged 37)

military officer

Philo Norton McGiffin was an American mercenary serving in Chinese service as a naval advisor during the First Sino-Japanese War. Although primarily skilled as an instructor and administrator, he proved a talented tactician during the September 17, 1894 Battle of the Yalu River. He was the first American to command a modern battleship in wartime.

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76. Samuel Baldwin Marks Young

1840-1924 (aged 84)

military officer

Samuel Baldwin Marks Young was a United States Army general. He also served as the first president of Army War College between 1902 and 1903. He then served from 1903 until 1904 as the first Chief of Staff of the United States Army.

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77. Milton Latham

1827-1882 (aged 55)

lawyer politician

Milton Slocum Latham was an American politician, who served as the sixth governor of California and as a U.S. representative and U.S. senator. Latham holds the distinction of having the shortest governorship in California history, lasting for five days between January 9 and January 14, 1860. A Lecompton Democrat, Latham resigned from office (the second governor to do so) after...

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78. David A. Steinberg

1970-. (aged 56)

business executive

David A. Steinberg is the founder and chief executive officer of Zeta Global. Steinberg is a serial entrepreneur, one of few who have built multiple companies that are worth $1 billion dollars, and do more than $100 million in annual sales. His net worth has been estimated at over $1 Billion dollars. Steinberg also serves as chairman and co-founder of...

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79. Benjamin Helm Bristow

1832-1896 (aged 64)

lawyer

Benjamin Helm Bristow was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 30th U.S. Treasury Secretary and the first Solicitor General.

80. Buddy Jeannette

1917-1998 (aged 81)

basketball player basketball coach

Harry Edward "Buddy" Jeannette was an American professional basketball player and coach.

81. Matthew Quay

1833-1904 (aged 71)

lawyer politician

Matthew Stanley Quay was an American politician of the Republican Party who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1887 until 1899 and from 1901 until his death in 1904. Quay's control of the Pennsylvania Republican political machine for almost twenty years made him one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the country. As chair of the...

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82. Melissa Hart

1962-. (aged 64)

lawyer politician

Melissa Ann Hart is an American lawyer and politician. She was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007, representing western Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district. In the 2006 midterm elections, Hart lost her bid for re-election to Democrat Jason Altmire. She challenged Altmire again in the 2008 election, but was defeated again.

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83. Clarence Long

1908-1994 (aged 86)

writer politician

Clarence Dickinson "Doc" Long Jr. was a Democratic U.S. Congressman who represented the 2nd congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1963, to January 3, 1985.

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84. William Holmes McGuffey

1800-1873 (aged 73)

teacher

William Holmes McGuffey was an American college professor and president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, the first widely used series of elementary school-level textbooks. More than 120 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary.

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85. Joseph Ruggles Wilson

1822-1903 (aged 81)

university teacher

Joseph Ruggles Wilson Sr. was a prominent American Presbyterian theologian and father of President Woodrow Wilson, Nashville Banner editor Joseph Ruggles Wilson Jr., and Anne E. Wilson Howe. In 1861, as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, he organized the General Assembly of the newly formed Presbyterian Church in the United States, known as the Southern Presbyterian Church,...

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86. Henry A. Wise

1806-1876 (aged 70)

historian lawyer diplomat politician

Henry Alexander Wise was an American attorney, diplomat, politician and slave owner from Virginia. As the 33rd Governor of Virginia, Wise served as a significant figure on the path to the American Civil War, becoming heavily involved in the 1859 trial of abolitionist John Brown. After leaving office in 1860, Wise also led the move toward Virginia's secession from the...

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87. John W. Geary

1819-1873 (aged 54)

military officer lawyer politician

John White Geary was an American lawyer, politician, Freemason, and a Union general in the American Civil War. He was the final alcalde and first mayor of San Francisco, a governor of the Kansas Territory, and the 16th governor of Pennsylvania.

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88. Jesse William Lazear

1866-1900 (aged 34)

physician

Jesse William Lazear was an American physician. In 1900, he deliberately allowed a mosquito to bite him to test the hypothesis that mosquitoes were the vector for yellow fever transmission. He contracted the disease but did not recover and died on September 25, 1900.

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89. Martin R. Delany

1812-1885 (aged 73)

novelist writer journalist abolitionist physician

Martin Robison Delany was an American abolitionist, journalist, physician, military officer, and writer. Delany was an early and influential proponent of black nationalism. Delany is credited with the Pan-African slogan of "Africa for Africans." Born as a free person of color in Charles Town, Virginia (now Charles Town, West Virginia), and raised in Chambersburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Delany trained as...

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90. John Murtha

1932-2010 (aged 78)

politician military officer

John Patrick Murtha Jr. was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Murtha, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1974 until his death in 2010. He is the longest-serving member of the United States House of Representatives ever elected from Pennsylvania.

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91. Luke Ravenstahl

1980-. (aged 46)

politician American football player

Luke Robert Ravenstahl is an American politician who served as the 59th Mayor of Pittsburgh from 2006 until 2014. A Democrat, he became the youngest mayor in Pittsburgh's history in September 2006 at the age of 26. He was among the youngest mayors of a major city in American history.

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92. Tom Rooney

1970-. (aged 56)

lawyer politician

Thomas Joseph Rooney is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Florida from 2009 to 2019. He represented Florida's 16th congressional district from 2009 to 2013 and Florida's 17th congressional district from 2013 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party.

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93. Stephen Foster

1826-1864 (aged 38)

composer singer-songwriter songwriter writer lyricist

Stephen Collins Foster, known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour and folk music during the Romantic period. Foster wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old...

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94. James G. Blaine

1830-1893 (aged 63)

lawyer writer editor politician journalist

James Gillespie Blaine was an American statesman and Republican politician who represented Maine in the United States House of Representatives from 1863 to 1876, served as Speaker of the House from 1869 to 1875, and was a U.S. senator from 1876 to 1881. He served twice as Secretary of State, under presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur in...

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95. Clement Vallandigham

1820-1871 (aged 51)

editor politician lawyer peace activist journalist

Clement Laird Vallandigham was an American lawyer and politician who was the leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats during the American Civil War.

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96. Joseph Albert Walker

1921-1966 (aged 45)

test pilot astronaut physicist

Joseph Albert Walker was an American World War II pilot, experimental physicist, NASA test pilot, and astronaut who was the first person to fly an airplane to space. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the Air Force and NASA.

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97. John Astin

1930-. (aged 96)

stage actor film director actor university teacher voice actor

John Allen Astin is an American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles, primarily in character roles. He is widely known for his role as patriarch Gomez Addams in The Addams Family (1964–1966), reprising the role in the television film Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977) and the animated series The Addams Family...

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98. Roger Goodell

1959-. (aged 67)

Commissioner of the National Football League businessperson

Roger Stokoe Goodell is an American businessman who has been the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) since 2006.

99. Harry E. Miller Jr

1958-. (aged 68)

military personnel

Harry E. Miller Jr. is a retired Army National Guard officer. A veteran of the Iraq War, he attained the rank of major general as commander of the 42nd Infantry Division, a position he held from 2013 to 2017.

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100. Albert G. Jenkins

1830-1864 (aged 34)

lawyer politician

Albert Gallatin Jenkins was an American politician who served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army. He served two terms in the United States Congress from 1857 to 1861 and later the First Confederate Congress.

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